Chocolate fight: Cooks battle for Valentine's Day glory at Heritage Assisted Living

Following the success of the Pumpkin Cookoff last November, Heritage Assisted Living will host a chocolate cook off tomorrow. The winning recipe will get some serious notice at the facility's Valentine's Day dinner.

Thankfully, the first rule of a chocolate fight is not "don't talk about the chocolate fight." On the contrary, the staff of Dover's Heritage Assisted Living Community is hoping there will be lots of talk about their latest contest, "Cupid's Chocolate Lover's Cook Off" which takes place today at 1:30 p.m.

This is the facility's first cook-off of the year, following three successful cooking contests last year. Recreation Director Kyla Teed said the staff and the residents look forward to these events so much. She also hopes that the participation mimics last winter's Pumpkin Cook-off.

"I was so pleased with the turnout," Teed said. "It was such a great cross-generational community event. Watching the kids interact with our residents was wonderful and you could see them enjoying the food and each other."

Competing in the "sweet battle" will be Heritage Assisted Living staff members and St. John's Lutheran School staff members. Each entry will be rated across several categories including (but not limited to) creativity, originality, appearance and taste.

Judging the decadent delights will be facility residents, a select group of St. John's students and the Dover Post's newest news reporter, Sarah Barban.

"I'm really excited about judging the competition because I'm a chocoholic and I love to cook and create recipes," said Barban. "It will be fun to see what the other home cooks can do."

The winning recipe will be featured on Heritage's Valentine's Day dinner menu. Godiva Chocolate, located at Dover Downs Hotel and Casino has also donated gifts and goodies for the winners.

"I plan on winning this," said Teed, who placed high in the Pumpkin Cook Off. "Second place is not going to happen again.